Adventures of John: Into the Void
by John The Adventurer
Summary: I've set sail into the vast emptiness of the Void, and anything can happen. Nothing is impossible as I venture into the Void, captaining a powerful ship. Endless dangers await, as well as untold adventure. Second in my Void Trilogy after Adventures of John: The Society.
1. Introduction

Adventures of John: Into the Void

Introduction

My name is John the Adventurer. Not really. But in order to protect my identity, I usually refer to myself as such. Our world, our reality, is not the only one there is. There are an infinite number of planes of existence beyond our own, realms of myth and magic filled with all manner of beasts and creatures. There are those among us, ordinary people in all other aspects, that have a connection to one or more of these worlds. Their connection to these worlds can often give them abilities beyond those of other men, or even provide passage to these worlds. Many of these gifted individuals are unaware of their abilities.

I am one of these people, except I am aware of my gifts, and I am not merely connected to one realm, but to all of them. Because of this, I can see and speak with creatures from these realms, as well as separate my spirit from my body and use it to travel to these realms. When I am in these other worlds I can use the magic inherit in these worlds to do anything I can dream of. These are the tales of my journeys through the magical realms. These are the Adventures of John. Why am I posting my tales on a fan fiction site, you ask? Well, you wouldn't believe the people I've met.

. . . . .

For years I have protected humanity from the forces of darkness. No one even realizes that I even exist, but that doesn't matter. Each time I save the world, I know that they would be grateful if they did realize all that I do for them. But recently my adventures have become more dangerous than any before. Before it was simply the world, or in some cases the universe that was in danger, but now it is so much more. All of reality, every universe, is in danger.

Some time ago I met a man named the Doctor, a time traveling alien from another universe. Together we defeated a man named the Technomancer, who sought to use an ancient spell with the ability to weaken the boundaries between universes to force every universe into one. We defeated him, but I chose to keep the spell for myself instead of destroy it.

I later used this spell in an attempt to enable me to use my magic in our magically dead world, but instead I created an unstable rift that pulled me into the Void, the endless nothingness between universes. I was nearly erased from reality, but through force of will I was able to jettison myself from the Void, into a completely different universe, where I met the love of my life, Queen Elsa of Arendelle. Together we fought off an old enemy of mine, a being known as the Shadow Trickster, and for a while we were happy together, but it was not to last. The rift I had created to get to this universe was growing, and would soon consume my entire universe. The only way to save it would be to return to Earth, and to leave Arendelle, and my beloved Elsa, forever. We promised to find each other again, and I left.

After searching the magical realms for a way to return, I discovered that the only way was with the same spell I had used to go there in the first place. With the help of Jack Frost I was able to craft a more stable version of the spell, and returned to Arendelle. After spending a long time in Arendelle I returned to our world with Elsa in tow, only to find that Jack Frost, in an attempt to make it so that everyone would be able to see him and his fellow Guardians, had unleashed all the horrors of the magical realms on the world. Unfortunately, one of these horrors was the Darkness, an evil from the beginning of the universe more powerful than any other. The three of us, with the help of my younger sister Annie and my old friend the Doctor, were able to awaken the Celestial beings, a trinity of beings just as old and powerful as the Darkness, who were able to destroy it an turn back time so that none of it had ever happened. In the process of awakening them, we discovered that the Darkness was once a Celestial being like them before being corrupted by the emptiness that existed before the creation of the universe. After all this I chose to destroy the spell so that it would never be able to endanger the universe again.

Time passed, and things happened. On Valentine's Day Elsa and I were accosted by Aphrodite, who tested our love for each other in brutal ways. Not long after that I proposed to Elsa, and we were married with various magical beings, including Santa Claus and Hermes, as well as several members of the Disney royalty such as Merida and Belle, in attendance. Married life was good, but once again, the happiness was not to last.

The spell surfaced again as Elsa and I attended the first birthday party of Anna and Kristoff's daughter Kara. The two of us were thrown into an alternate reality where we faced a fiery double of Elsa, who I was forced to kill in order to close the rift and save both universes. Several more times I was tossed through rifts, going back to the Doctor's universe, as well as being thrown into the universe of the television show Supernatural, and even a version of Metropolis where the Justice League and the Avengers were being mind-controlled to kill each other. I discovered that these disturbances in the multiverse were created by a powerful secret society, one that was spreading its influence across the magical realms and the various universes, and I decided to hunt the society down.

With the information I tortured out of a powerful demon, I found the location of one of the secret bases of the society, where I found several members attempting to create another rift, as well as the Greek god Ares. After stopping the formation of the portal and slicing and dicing Ares I went to the next base, where I was forced to fight a long-dead friend of mine who was being controlled by the society. I was only able to defeat him by tapping into a hidden reserve of pure creation energy that I was not even aware I possessed. After laying him to rest in his ancient home, I went to the third and final base, which was empty, except for a small group of men who claimed to work for a man named Shade. They opened a rift, and on the other side I faced an evil version of me from an alternate universe. After a long battle which revealed that we were evenly matched, I was able to turn one of his attacks against him and end him. I came back through the rift, only to find the men, who I had bound, now had no memory of anything.

Inside the base I found what appeared to be a permanent, stable rift. I went through and found myself surrounded by Void demons, powerful but mindless creatures made of pure emptiness. I also discovered the leader of the society in my reality, who informed me that they called themselves the "Brotherhood of the Void". The leader revealed that he was nothing more than a more refined variant of Void demon, and that the Brotherhood had been leading me along, letting me become more powerful so that they could drain my energies to power an ultimate version of the rift-creating spell, one that would destroy all of creation, leaving only the Void to remain. Tapping into my creation energy again I was able to defeat him, leaving me alone with the Void. Knowing that this was not the end, I created a Void ship for myself, and set sail into the Void.


	2. Chapter 1: Voyagers of the Void

Adventures of John: Into the Void

Chapter 1: Voyagers of the Void

I stood on the helm of my new vessel, my cloak billowing with the sails as I stared out into the emptiness of the Void. I could feel its hatred of me, its desire to devour my vessel and me along with it, until nothing remained. The Void guy in the cloak had said that they were trying to end creation because it was "the will of the Void", and being here now I believed him. My very existence was an intrusion to the vast nothingness, and I knew that if it wasn't for my aura of creation energy, I would have ceased to exist long ago.

It is said that matter can neither be created nor destroyed, only changed. Well, in my experience I have to say that is a load of horse crap. I created a bunch of miniature suns from nothing, and then created this massive vessel from more nothing. I had also seen Void demons erase matter from the universe, destroying it utterly. When you live my life, all the regular rules are thrown out the window.

Suddenly there was a massive flash of light, from which what looked like an old Elizabethan pirate ship appeared. But that was impossible. This was the Void, nothing exists here. It was emptiness, absolute nothing. But despite that, there it was, a pirate ship flying straight for me.

"Give up yer vessel and all yer valuables!" a voice cried from the other ship, sounding very much like a stereotypical pirate. "Ye be the property of Captain Scrawl, the greatest pirate to ever live!"

"Great," I muttered. "Void pirates. What's next?" I cleared my throat, and magically enhancing the volume of my voice, responded, "I don't think I'll be doing that. I like myself right where I am, and I don't plan on giving my ship up to anyone."

"It's nothing personal mate," another, more English-sounding voice called. "But there aren't very many people cruisin' through this Void ya see. If we don't take your ship, we won't be having anything to eat."

"In the Void, you don't need to eat," I countered. "There is no time here. No aging, no dying of hunger or thirst, no death other than being devoured by the Void. Speaking of which, how is it that you and your vessel haven't been devoured yet?"

"I could ask the same of yours," the English one responded.

"How about we come together and speak civilly?" I asked. "If you try anything, I get to kill you, and if I try anything, you get to kill me."

"Sounds fair enough," Captain Scrawl laughed. "Prepare for boarding, mates!" We steered the two ships together, and once we came close the other ship's crew tossed hooks over, grabbing onto the Great Adventure and binding it to the other ship. "Welcome!" Scrawl exclaimed as I jumped aboard his vessel. "Welcome to the _Woman Scorned,_ the most feared ship in the seven seas!" Scrawl was an ugly one for sure, with a large matted beard, a sunburnt face, and several large warts. He was also big, nearly as tall as I was and far wider. He looked like you'd image Blackbeard to look like, if he was incredibly ugly.

"You aren't in the seven seas anymore," I told him. "Now tell me, what are a bunch of pirates doing sailing through the Void? More importantly, **how** are a bunch of pirates sailing through the Void?"

"Yer quick to ask questions, matey," Scrawl commented. "Why don't ye come te me quarters and we can discuss this?"

"And leave your crew alone with my ship?" I responded. "I think not."

"Ye need not worry," Scrawl assured me. "As long as we parley, I vow that my crew will not lay a hand on yer vessel."

"You hear that lads?" the English one, a young, athletic blonde man, shouted. "Not a hand on that ship!" I placed a warning spell on my ship just in case.

"Come with me," Scrawl told me, putting his arm across my shoulder. He reeked like a sewer, and I quickly shrugged off the arm and stepped several feet away.

"Lead on."

Scrawl laughed. "This be Jack, me handy first mate." He gestured to the Englishman, who had followed us into the Captain's Quarters. "We don't see many people out here ye know, so it was quite the surprise when we discovered you."

"That's what I'm curious about," I told him. "You appeared in a flash of light. How did you know where I was, how did you get here, and how has your ship kept from being devoured by the Void?"

"We got ourselves a sorcerer!" Scrawl answered proudly. A good one too. Outfitted me vessel to sail the winds o' the Void. We've found some pretty valuable treasures since comin' here, we did, what wasn't eaten up by the Void anyway."

"Can I meet this sorcerer?" I inquired.

"Of course! Jack over here can take ye to him. I shall go and make sure any of me crew haven't decided to try out yer ship against me orders."

"You'll 'ave to excuse the Captain," Jack told me as he led me to the other side of the ship. "His mind's been going a bit, you see, what with us being stuck in all this endless nothin'."

"What's with the accent?" I asked him. "His, not yours."

"He thinks it makes his seem more frightening," he answered. "More like how you'd expect a pirate to be like. It's also why he has that nasty beard."

"And the smell?"

"That can't be helped," he answered with a laugh. "He's a good man, all-in-all. That's why he took this job. Nearly all of the things we find here are unguarded, so we 'aven't had to kill anyone. You're the first living soul we've since entering this pit." He stopped in front of a wooden door with a sign proclaiming, "**No Entrance!**" in bold letters. "Well, 'ere we are, the mage's quarters. Don't startle 'im though, he's made several men who tried to come in here disappear."

"I'll remember that." I opened the door and walked inside, immediately finding myself in the most cluttered room I had ever seen. Shelves were everywhere, with each shelf overburdened with various chests, boxes, and jars. Wherever there weren't shelves, various arcane and ancient books lay in towering piles. I examined some of the jars, discovering various unsavory ingredients. I also found several jars that seemed to contain pieces of the Void itself, blank emptiness contained inside the containers.

"Don't touch that!" a shrill voice exclaimed. "It's very sensitive! We can't have just anyone messing around with the very essence of the Void!"

"Good thing I'm not just anyone," I replied, turning to the speaker. He was a shriveled gnome of a man, barely five feet tall and covered with wrinkles, a shock of snowy Einstein-like hair covering his head. "I'm John the Adventurer," I told him, offering my hand. "And you are?"

"None of your business!" he exclaimed testily. "And I don't care who you are, Void magic is delicate business, and I won't have you messing it up!"

"You're a Void wizard," I muttered. As if I didn't already have enough Void-related problems. First a secret Void society, then Void demons, and now Void wizards. I really hoped this guy wasn't a part of the society.

"I prefer to think of myself as a pioneer," he told me. "I, Wiznet Fizzcrackle, shall be the first human being to delve into the secrets of the Void."

"And what is all this for?" I asked.

"I plan on recreating the process to forge Voidstones," he answered proudly. "There are so few of them that in most universes they are viewed as myth, or are completely foreign to those in that universe. If I am successful, then that will no longer be a problem! Everyone will have the power of the Void at their fingertips."

"That's not a smart idea," I told him. "I understand that you think you are doing something good, but things are happening. The Void itself has begun to strike out against creation. Nothing good can come from your work."

"If it weren't for my work, this ship would have been devoured long ago!" he announced. "I was able to decipher how to repel the power of the Void, encasing this entire ship in a protective shell. How is **that** not a good thing?"

Suddenly there was an explosion of sound. "My ship!" I exclaimed. "Someone's on it!" We ran out to find the captain and his crew coming off of my ship towards us, staring blankly into space. "What happened to keeping your crew away from my ship?" I shouted.

Scrawl turned to me, his eyes empty of emotion. Void energy poured from his mouth as he said in an eerie voice, "**The Void has them now. You are done, adventurer.**"

"What in the blazes is going on?!" Jack exclaimed as he saw what was happening. "Captain, what's bloody gotten into you?"

"No time to explain," I told him, grabbing both his and Wiznet's arms. "Time to get out of here." I closed my eyes and we teleported us to the helm of the _Great Adventure_. The Void-possessed pirates turned to follow us, but I spun the wheel, breaking my ship away from the _Woman Scorned_ and leaving them behind, with several of them dropping into the emptiness of the Void.

"What is going on?" Jack questioned. "What happened to the Captain?"

"He and the others probably got possessed by the Void," I answered. "How that happened I have no idea."

"Wait," Wiznet commanded. "How is it that your ship isn't being devoured?"

"It's imbued with pure creation energy," I responded. "It cancels out the effects of the Void."

"That's it!" he exclaimed. "When they came on board, they must have been temporarily exposed to the Void between exiting my anti-Void shield and stepping foot on your ship. Not long enough to be consumed, but maybe long enough for this possession to take place."

"Lads," Jack said concernedly, "we've got trouble!" Turning around, I saw the _Woman Scorned_ catching towards us. "I thought mind controlled people were supposed to be all zombie-like."

"Well you were wrong," I answered. I tried to speed away, but they began to slowly catch up to us. "We aren't going to be able to outrun them!" I exclaimed. "Time to go on the offensive."

"You've got no bloody crew!" Jack exclaimed. "How the blazes are we supposed to man all these cannons?!"

"You're not," I responded, grinning. "Just sit down and watch the show." I turned the ship to the side until the starboard bow was facing the enemy ship. "Load cannons!" I shouted. Nothing happened. "Oh right," I muttered. "Already loaded. Okay then. Ready cannons!" The cannons seemed to shift slightly, as if readying themselves. "Fire!"

The starboard side was suddenly engulfed in smoke as every starboard cannon fired, releasing a volley of cannonballs, each of which radiated an aura of creation energy. The cannonballs ripped through the _Woman Scorned_, but it still flew. It began to turn, readying to release a volley of its own.

"Nice ship you 'ave 'ere," Jack praised. "But I don't think she stands a chance against the _Woman Scorned_."

"We'll see about that," I responded. "Ready main cannon!" The ship's bow opened up, a massive, sci-fi-looking cannon rose out of it. It was made of some silvery metal, with golden energy glowing through from the inside. "Prepare Megaton Ion Blast!"

"What is that?!" Wiznet asked in amazement.

"A cool-looking gun with a fancy name," I answered. "And it packs quite a wallop." The gun began to glow brighter, energy pouring off of it in waves. "Fire!" A massive blast of energy erupted from the massive cannon, tearing the _Woman Scorned_ to shreds. "Well," I said, turning to my new crew, "that was exciting."

. . . . .

Sometime later I was below decks, enjoying a nice game of bowling in the game room. Yes my ship has a game room. It is my ship after all. Suddenly there were frenzied shouts from above. I immediately teleported to the helm, where I found both Jack and Wiznet.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"That." Jack pointed straight up.

I looked up and was stunned into silence. When I could finally speak, all I could say was, "That's not possible!"


	3. Chapter 2: Island Tales

Adventures of John: Into the Void

Chapter 2: Island Tales

"That's not possible!"

Hovering above my ship was a massive slab of rock stretching miles in every direction. I couldn't see what was on top of it, as its massive girth blocked my view, but it was no ordinary piece of rock. I could see veins of metal ore and precious stones running through it, as well as several half-exposed caverns. "Is that-"

"An island, yes," Jack said, answering my unfinished question. "Stuff like that falls into the Void all the time. Sometimes entire continents even"

"But shouldn't it have been devoured?" I asked.

"Something that big?" he laughed. "It usually takes quite a while to get rid of something that big, even for the Void. That's why the Captain agreed to come out here. All these half-eaten landmasses oftentimes have valuables hidden deep in the earth, where you would usually never be able to find it. Because they are being consumed by the Void though, all those valuables are often sitting right there just waiting to be taken." He looked at the floating island thoughtfully. "Though this one looks to be in better condition than any I've seen. In fact, it looks like the Void has barely even touched it."

"I think that's worth checking out," I stated. "Let's turn this boat around. We're going to see what's so special about this island." I turned the ship towards the nearest edge, and we sailed out from under it and up several miles to the surface. The island was a jungle paradise, and like the bottom showed virtually no sign of the influence of the Void. In fact, it looked positively vibrant.

"Nice looking place," Jack commented as he got off the _Great Adventure_. "Wiznet's scanners should have picked this place up like they did your ship. I wonder why they didn't."

"It's most probably a new arrival, from after we got off the ship," Wiznet answered, offended at the insinuation that his equipment might have been faulty. "That would explain why it hasn't been devoured yet, seeing as I can't detect any anti-Void shielding or any of John's 'creation energy'."

"You know," I mused, "for a wizard, you sound a lot like Spock."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Never mind."

We continued walking for what felt like several hours, though in the Void that means absolutely nothing. Time does not exist here. We discovered many plants but not a single animal. No insects, reptiles, mammals, or any other animal you would expect to find in a jungle like this one. For all intents and purposes, we were the only beings in existence. Or so we thought.

"How are you holding up?" I asked Jack. "I know you cared for the captain."

"Why are we even 'ere?" Jack asked angrily, dodging my question. "There's nothing to be found, we're all alone here. Wiznet's probably right 'bout this one. It's just new."

"This place is far from new," a feminine voice answered. "And you are not alone."

Turning around, I saw a beautiful woman in a shimmering golden dress. She had flowing pitch black hair and chocolaty brown skin. She smiled slightly, and I could see from the look on his face that Jack was smitten.

"My name is Alara," she stated. "I am the prisoner of this island."

"Prisoner?" I questioned.

"Indeed," she replied. "I have been a prisoner here for nearly as long as I can remember, and I have a very long memory."

"Do you know why you are here?" I inquired. She didn't look all that threatening, but appearances can be deceiving. I know that better than anyone.

"The same reason young ladies are always imprisoned for an eternity," she answered. "The sins of her parents, and the spite of a jealous god." She invited us to sit down and began to tell us a tale, one which I listened to intently, enhancing my hearing in order hear her heartbeat. In essence, I became a lie detector.

"It all began in a distant universe, while the mortals were still crawling in their caves. The Old Ones, ancient gods of immense power, ruled the world. The mortals were their playthings, and all was under their complete control. Many times the mortals tried to rise up against these gods, but the fools were easily crushed beneath their might."

"Then one day, a powerful force came from another universe, and several of the mortals suddenly became something more. They became the New Gods, champions of the mortals. They battled the Old Ones and banished them into the depths of the Void, where they were slowly consumed. But for the children of the Old Ones, who lacked the great power of their parents, they gave an even worse punishment. They took the realm of the Old Ones and split it apart, sending each of the children into individual eternal prisons where they would watch as their parents were consumed."

"One of the children, a beautiful young lady, caught the eye of one of the New Gods. He was young and impulsive, but he was also one of the most powerful of these New Gods. He went to the woman and offered to protect her from the wrath of his fellow gods if she would be his wife. She recoiled from him and told him that she could never love him after what he had done to her siblings and parents. She didn't understand the horrible things that her parents had done, only that these New Gods had killed her parents and imprisoned her siblings. The New God was enraged, and so decided to create a special punishment for her. He took the paradise of the Old One's realm and put her in it, setting her adrift in the Void, only unlike her parents, she would be cursed to remain, the Void having to effect on her or her eternal prison, and she would be forced to watch the triumph of the New Gods through the central pools."

"The New Gods built a new civilization. At first the world was a better place for the mortals, but not for long. The New Gods soon forgot their promise to protect the mortals, and became even worse tyrants than the Old Ones. But the power that allowed them to defeat the Old Ones slowly began to fade, until after millennia had passed they died out, and the mortals were finally their own masters. And all this time, the young woman watched, time refusing to pass in her prison in the Void while her world grew old and died from the passage of time."

"And that," she said, rising up, "is my story."

"Good story," Jack told her. I was too focused on something far more important to be thinking about the quality of her story. The leaves on a nearby tree were vanishing, as if they were being erased from existence. Glancing around, I saw that it was happening all around us. Everywhere things began to be consumed.

"Everyone," I exclaimed, "we need to get out of here now!" I grabbed Wiznet and Alara, and Jack chased after.

"What's bloody going on?!" he shouted.

"The entire island is coming apart!" I exclaimed. "If we don't leave now, we are going with it!"


	4. Chapter 3: Escape

Adventures of John: Into the Void

Chapter 3: Escape

"What ever happened to this being an eternal prison?!" Jack shouted as we ran. All around us plants and rock formations vanished, consumed by the nothingness of the Void. The earth crumbled beneath us as far below the Void consumed the base of the island.

"I don't understand!" Alara cried. "It's stood for millennia! There's no reason for this to happen!"

"Maybe there is…" I mused.

"What?" Wiznet asked. "Do you know what is causing this?"

"We can worry about that later," I declared, shaking myself from my thoughts. "Right now we need to get the heck of this island."

"This shouldn't be happening so quickly," Wiznet muttered as he ran. "It takes more time for the Void to devour something this large. It is going far too fast!"

"The lady did say that this island has been here for a while," I answered. "Maybe it's making up for lost time. Now shut up and run!" We ran, and we were nearly back at the ship when Jack suddenly cried out in shock and pain. Turning back, I saw that his left leg had been sucked under the earth, and he was stuck.

"Go!" he exclaimed. "I'm already dead."

"No man left behind," I replied, grabbing him pulling him out.

"Leave me," he ordered. "There's no hope for me now." Glancing down, I saw what he meant. Void energy was clinging to his foot, climbing slowly higher up his leg. "There is nothing you can do."

"Don't give up yet," I told him, grabbing his arm. "Lean on me. We'll get through this. All of us will." We went the rest of the way with him leaning on me, Alara and Wiznet getting to the ship first, then me and Jack.

"I- I can't," Alara said, hesitating before the ship. "I can't leave."

"Look at this place!" I exclaimed. "It's falling apart! Whatever godly magic protected this place is gone, so whatever is keeping you here is gone too. So suck it up and GET ON THE BOAT!" She looked frightened, but did as I said and stepped onto the _Great Adventure_. I hauled Jack onto the ship and shouted. "Get us out of here!" The wheel spun of its own accord and we sailed away as the island crumpled and vanished behind us.

I put my hands on Jack's leg and concentrated, drawing upon my creation energy to burn away the Void energy. Jack screamed in pain, recoiling from my touch. I held firm and he screamed as the two energies battled within him. Finally he collapsed, the Void energy expunged, but not without a cost. His left leg was gone up past the knee, simply missing. I conjured a flame and seared the edge of the wound, sealing it. Thankfully Jack was unconscious, so there were no more screams.

I looked down at his missing leg and felt the charred skin around the wound. He had barely joined my crew and already I had gotten him injured. Thinking about it, I realized that I knew barely anything about him or Wiznet. If I was going to have them on my crew, I needed to care more about them, and get them to trust me. First step towards that would be to fix this. I concentrated and particles formed, electrons, protons, and neutrons forming from nothing and coming together to create atoms, which came together to create molecules, more and more coming together until where his old leg had one been was an identical leg made entirely of a silvery metal.

"Come with me," I told Wiznet. "We need to get him comfortable."

. . . . .

Jack woke up in an unfamiliar bed. It was large and plush, with several layers of blankets and an unnecessary number of pillows. He didn't think they even had anything like this on the _Woman Scorned_. Looking around, he realized that the room he was in didn't look like anything on Captain Scrawl's ship either. He swept off the sheets to get out of bed, but when his feet hit the floor he heard a metallic clang. Looking down, he saw that was of his legs was gone, replaced by a metallic replica.

"Bloody-!"

"No foul language," a voice interrupted. Jack looked up to see John, his golden cloak billowing about his golden armor. "Come on Jack. We need to talk."

. . . . .

"And so you gave me the metal leg?" Jack asked as I finished telling him what had happened.

"Yep," I answered. "It should feel just as natural as your old leg and work even better."

"I just don't get why the island crumbled like that," he muttered, stretching his new leg. "One second it's there, protected by some sort of 'New God' power, and the next it's bloody gone. I've never seen the Void erase something that big so quickly."

"You know why, don't you," Wiznet said to me. It wasn't a question. "I saw it in your eyes when we were running. You figured it out."

"Jack over here just said the answer without realizing it," I answered cryptically.

"Please speak plainly," Alara urged. "Why did my prison fail?"

"The power of your New Gods was what kept the prison going," I explained, "but you said that you watched as their power failed them and they died out. The power that was protecting your prison died with them."

"But that happened centuries ago," she insisted. "If that were true than my prison should have been destroyed long ago."

"Time means nothing in the Void," I told her. "From your standpoint, looking into your magical water, in may have been centuries, but to the rest of the Void it could have been seconds. That probably also has something to do with why it was consumed so quickly."

"Well," Jack sighed. "What do we do now?"

"I believe some introductions are in order," I stated. "The lovely Alara has already told us her story. I think it's our turn. Jack, why don't you start? Tell us how you ended up in the Void."


	5. Chapter 4: Backstory

Adventures of John: Into the Void

Chapter 4: Backstory

"As you probably guessed by now, I was born in England," Jack began. "I was enlisted into the Queen's royal navy to fight against the Spaniards. I ended up on one o' them privateer ships, and for two years I did my most for queen and country. But then the war was over, and we were all called home. My captain had other ideas."

"Captain Scrawl?" I interrupted.

"No," he answered. "I 'adn't even met Scrawl yet. No, this was 'Captain Jonathan Williams'. He thought 'e was the God's gift to mankind. He didn't want to follow the orders of 'er Majesty. You see, 'e 'ad gotten a taste of Spanish gold, and 'e didn't want to give it up. He told us that if anyone wanted to go home we could walk the plank and make a swim for it. Anyone that didn't was to obey his orders on pain of death. So we became pirates, not noble privateers on a mission from her Majesty, but filthy, worthless, thieving, murdering pirates."

"We sailed the Caribbean, pillaging and plundering wherever we went. Several members of the crew tried to escape at first, but Williams had 'em shot down before they could go very far. It seemed like that would be our lot for the rest of our lives. And then came Scrawl. One day there was a flash of light and he suddenly appeared, standing there on the deck dressed in strange clothes and looking as confused as could be."

"Captain Williams 'ad 'im interrogated, but after the first few days 'o torture it was decided that Scrawl was bloomin mad. He claimed 'e was from the twenty-first century, and kept on talking 'bout things like 'cars' and 'airplanes'. None of it made much sense."

"So you're saying that he was from the future?" I asked in shock.

"That's what 'e claimed," Jack responded. "Though I never learned if it was the truth or not."

"It was," I told him. "I am from the twenty-first century as well. The year two thousand and fourteen to be exact. We do have things called cars and airplanes. We use them for transportation. Cars on the land and planes in the air. Think of planes as flying ships, similar to how we are flying through the Void right now."

"Well bloody-" My glare cut off the rest of his sentence. "I never would 'ave imagined it. This place really 'as no concept of time, does it?"

"Apparently not," I answered. "Now please, finish your story."

"Alright," he replied. "So Scrawl ended up being locked up in the brig. But as it turned out, Scrawl was smart. He became friends with those that guarded 'im, and 'e learned about what it was we did, and how Williams kept in command. He came up with a plan, and one night, after nearly all the crew had joined in, we staged a mutiny. Williams was thrown into Davy Jones' Locker, and we were free, with Scrawl as our new captain. He wanted us to take a new course. Instead of plundering the helpless, we went after the other pirates."

"Scrawl became one of the most feared pirates in the Caribbean, 'the pirate the pirates fear'. We hunted down and plundered the other pirates, 'elping out the locals and becoming rich in the process. Scrawl also made 'imself into more of a pirate, hoping it would 'elp 'is reputation. It never would 'ave worked, except Scrawl was a bloomin genius. I've never met another like 'im. Then one day Scrawl was approached by this little gnome over 'ere," he pointed at Wiznet, "and we sailed off into this 'Void', where Scrawl and the rest of the crew got possessed and died."

"Scrawl was a good man," I told him, squeezing his shoulder. "He will be remembered as such." I turned to Wiznet. "Now what about you? What is your story?"

"You don't want to hear about me," he laughed.

"Oh, I insist," I told him. "Please, do tell. I want to hear everything."

"I've always been small," he began. "I was never popular or liked. I was the butt of everyone's jokes. In my world, you see, there are several kingdoms, and each kingdom has a virtue that it prices above all others. In my kingdom that virtue was strength. One day when some of the larger children were beating me, I got incredibly angry, and the boy's hand burst into flames. I didn't understand what had just happened, but I believed that I would get in immense trouble for it. Instead, when I came home and told the story, my family was overjoyed."

"You see, magic is a rare gift in my world. So instead of being punished, I was sent off to the Academy of Wizardry in the City of a Thousand Spires. My parents were given a large amount of money and my family gained an immense amount of prestige because of a fluke of nature. The worthless runt had suddenly become valuable. I went off to school, and we never spoke again. There was no need. They had gotten what they wanted and I had gotten what I needed."

"For decades I toiled at the Academy, learning everything I could, but all that time I knew that there was so much more that was hidden from me. I found my way into the Vault of Restriction, where all the books on forbidden magics were kept. Necromancy was too gruesome for my tastes, as was demon summoning. Chaos magic was too uncivilized, and time magic was too unpredictable. What ended up catching my eye was a single book on Void magic, the rarest, and according to the book, most powerful form of magic. I devoured the book, but it was the only one like it in the Vault, so I left the Academy to learn more about this strange magic."

"At the age of seventy I finally discovered the entrance to the former laboratory of an ancient Void magician. I studied his volumes and texts, tested his experiments, and discovered something in his notes. They talked about items called Voidstones, items of immense power which had been created by his master, a man from a distant universe. He had spent his entire life trying to recreate the process, which his master had never told him before his death. I then realized what I had to do."

"I had found my purpose. Knowing that no one in my own universe would aid me, I utilized a spell of the long dead magician's, sending me to another universe. It took a while, but I finally found a willing partner in Captain Scrawl, and I enchanted his ship to sail through the Void, so he could claim long lost treasures while I discovered the secret to recreating the legendary Voidstones, forever cementing my place in the annals of history. When you were forced to destroy the _Woman Scorned_, I not only lost all of my work, but a good friend as well."

"Well," I remarked, "I'm glad that we all know each other better. Now we should decide what to do now. We could-"

"I think you're forgetting something," Jack interrupted. "We all told our backstories, now what about you?"

"Alright then," I agreed. I told them my story, beginning with finding my longtime friend Pixie on a third grade field trip. I told them of my agreement with the Queen of Spring and becoming her Champion. I told them of the war against the Lord of the Darkened Land and his eventual downfall. I told them of my early ventures into the different magical realms, beginning with my first encounter with Peter Pan. I told them of the day Jack Frost brought snow to Las Vegas, and the times I traveled to Wonderland and Oz.

I told them about my first adventure in the TARDIS with the Doctor and how I helped stop the Technomancer from forcing every reality into one, as well as the time I stole the Apples of the Youth from Asgard and nearly got killed by Thor. I told them about my adventure in Arendelle in which I met my future wife, and of the long search for a way to return. I told them about what I like to call World War Magic and how I brought back the celestial beings to stop the onslaught of the Darkness. I told them of my crazy Valentine's Day, and the following marriage to Queen Elsa. I then told them of all my adventures through the different rifts into the various alternate realities. Finally, I told them of my war against the Brotherhood of the Void and how I finally discovered my true power and created the _Great Adventure_ to voyage into the Void.

"Blimey," Jack muttered. "Now that's some tale. Does this Jack Frost bloke look at all like me?"

"Not really," I told him. "But I think you'd like him."

"You've really saved your entire universe three times?" Wiznet asked. "You must be quite the celebrity back home."

"Not exactly," I laughed. "Almost no one knows about any of this. Thanks to the Celestial Beings, no one even remembers the world going crazy and the Darkness nearly destroying everything."

"That must be frustrating," Alara remarked. "Saving their lives again and again, and none of them even know it. And you can't even tell them because they wouldn't believe you and your magic doesn't work in your own world."

"It is," I agreed. "Though that's not entirely true. I can't tell anyone I know, but I do write down my adventures in the form of stories. Most of the people reading them believe them to be fiction, but it helps to know that they are reading them and know what is going on, even if they don't believe it to be real. Now, we have more important things to discuss. I'm here in the Void for a reason. I need to find a way to stop the plans of the Brotherhood of the Void and save all of creation from being consumed by the Void. So, are you with me?"


	6. Chapter 5: A Meeting With Shade

Adventures of John: Into the Void

Chapter 5: A Meeting with Shade

"You saved me from an eternal prison," Alara stated. "Of course I am with you."

"My work may have been destroyed because of you, but from what you've told us, I'd say that there are opportunities for more advances in my studies on your way, so I'm with you," Wiznet decided. "Besides, I happen to like the various universes. It would be a shame to see them all disappear."

"I've got nothing better to do," Jack said with a shrug. "Besides, it's been quite some time since I've done anything heroic. Your way sounds like fun."

"Then we're all agreed," I sighed. "We've got a multiverse to save." I went above decks to the wheel and steered for a while. I thought about what had just happened, and pondered the wisdom of my choice.

_Can you really trust them?_ I asked myself._ You've got a pirate, a Void wizard, and the daughter of a race of evil gods. How could you possibly trust any of them?_

_ But can I afford not to? _I countered. _The Void is a dangerous place. I'm going to need their help if I want to survive. Paranoia can be useful at times, but right now all it can do is distract me._

Suddenly I heard a noise and turned to see a little girl standing behind me. She was dressed in a pink old-fashioned nightgown, with rosy cheeks and little blond curls. She would have been adorable if it weren't for her eyes, which were empty of all emotion. They were cold dead eyes, eyes that belonged to a lifeless corpse.

"Hello again, Adventurer," the girl said in a dark, resonating voice that was not meant to come out of a little girl's mouth. "I'm surprised to find you here. The Void is no place for mortals, even ones with your abilities."

"Who are you?" I inquired. "And why are you possessing this girl?"

"You have met my agents once before," the creature speaking through the girl stated. "They aided you in reaching your alternate self so you could defeat him."

"Shade," I muttered. "So what do you want? And why come to me in this form?"

"To say that this is a form I take, or that I am possessing this girl would be somewhat inaccurate," he told me. "To put it in terms that you would understand, this girl is acting as my avatar, containing a portion of my essence so I may act beyond my own realm."

"Well that's cool," I replied sarcastically. "But I really don't care about the technicalities. What do you want from me, Shade?"

"I know that you have been warned away from me," Shade told me. "But you would do best not to listen to the scribe. What is transpiring is beyond even his understanding."

"You still haven't answered my question," I informed him. "If you don't answer it soon, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kick you off this boat."

"How amusing," Shade chuckled. "I am here to deliver a warning. Veer off this path. Go hunt the society across the realities. There are things in the Void that your kind were never meant to behold. If you were to behold my true form you would go mad, and I am not the worst that you could witness. Leave the Void now."

"And why would you care?" I asked. I knew that Shade was evil. If possessing little girls wasn't enough, I could feel it pouring out of him. He was evil in a way I had rarely felt before. The only being whose evil could match Shade's would be the Darkness, and it had taken the most powerful beings in my universe to defeat it. If Shade wanted me out of the Void, than I was staying.

"Listen for once in your short, miserable life, you pestilent mortal!" he exclaimed through the little girl. "Turn back!"

"I'm going to have to decline your request."

"Fine then," he muttered, dark energy collecting around him. "I had hoped I would be able to use you, make you join me willingly. But the time for subtly is over. Say goodbye to your free will, John the-" Suddenly he was cut off, an explosion of golden energy disintegrated his host and scattering his energies into nothingness.

I looked down at my hands, but there was nothing. I wasn't the one who had done that. I looked up and beheld a being of pure golden energy hovering in the emptiness above my ship. Behind the being a building materialized, a fortress of glistening diamond the likes of which I had never seen before. My crew, alerted by the sound of the explosion, ran onto the deck and where shocked into amazement at the sight.

"Welcome, John the Adventurer," the shining being said in a powerful yet calming voice. "I have been expecting you."


	7. Chapter 6: The Throne of Creation

Adventures of John: Into the Void

Chapter 6: The Throne of Creation

"Welcome, John the Adventurer," the shining being said in a powerful yet calming voice. "I have been expecting you."

"Really?" I asked, trying not to let how freaked out I was show. "Why would that be?"

"We cannot say too much out here," the being seemed to gesture toward the Void around us, despite lacking any arms that I could distinguish. "The Void is always listening." The being floated away, the ship following him. Without my commanding it the ship docked at the steps to the diamond building, then stopped as if waiting for me to step off. "Please, follow me." I walked down the steps and then followed the being up them. My crew made to follow, but a wall of light suddenly sprang up in their path. "This is not your place," the being told them. "You must remain on the vessel." They looked to me questioningly and I nodded, letting them know that it was all right. They stepped back then and let me and the being continue up the steps.

As the being made contact with the steps it seemed to coalesce, coming together from shapeless light into the form of a man over seven feet tall and covered from head-to-foot in pure white armor. A helmet covered his features, but I could still see two pinpoints of golden light glowing through the helm. I followed him up the steps into a massive hall which contained millions of slowly spinning globes hovering a chest height.

"What is this place?" I asked in wonder. "It is like nothing I have ever seen!"

"This is the Throne of Creation," the being answered. "It is here that the Architect designed the multiverse and the Creator brought it into being. These globes represent the different Earths," he made a gesture and they all zoomed out, "the different galaxies," they all zoomed out again, "and the different universes. Each sphere represents one of the infinite universes the Creator has made."

"Are you talking about God?" I asked, shocked. "This is where God made everything?"

"God?" he mused on this for a moment. "Yes, both of them have been called by that named. They has also been called the Father and the Son, Yahweh and Jehovah, Allah and the Messiah, as well as many other names throughout time and the multiverse."

"Are you an angel?" I asked.

"Not quite," he chuckled. "Though you could call me the prototype for them. Angels differ across the different universes, as you have seen for yourself. In some universes angels are flawed beings with exploitable weaknesses and even fall on a regular basis, such as the angels in the universe inhabited by your friends the Winchesters. In your universe, on the other hand, angels are practically omnipotent and very nearly perfect, with the only angels to ever fall being Lucifer and his followers. Angels, like nearly all other creations, are subject to the universe they dwell in. I, on the other hand, exist outside of the multiverse, here in the Throne of Creation. I am completely unique, the single Guardian of Creation, the first sentient being designed by the Architect and formed by the Creator."

A question suddenly came into my mind. "If God created everything, then who created him?"

"A good question," he responded, "but one I don't have an answer to. I was the first of creation's sentient beings, but I did not exist in the days before the process of creation began. All I can tell you is that there was another multiverse before our own was created. You encountered a leftover from that multiverse in one of your adventures with the Timelord, a time dragon from a previous universe. So there was something before the Creator began his work, but it had ceased to exist long before I came into being. I cannot tell you who created the Creator, only that there was a Creator before him."

"Why are you telling me all this?" I asked. "Why am I even here? I'm not worthy to stand in the place God created the multiverse. No one is."

"I'm telling you this because all of creation is in danger. The Void has always existed, watching as the cycle of creation happened again and again. Though by its very nature the Void is nothing, it began to become more than that. The Void gained intelligence. It gained a will of its own, and its will is for the cycle to end. It seeped into the minds of men and women across the newly made multiverse, forming the Brotherhood of the Void. Through these agents it created a powerful spell which would draw on its power to break the bonds between universes, a spell which you yourself have used in the past. It has been maneuvering events to bring forth its dark will."

"But why me?" I questioned. "What can I do?"

"You bear within you the Spark of Creation," he answered. "It is the rarest of gifts. Throughout the multiverse those few with the Spark of Creation have been known by many named. In some they are called Shapers, in others they are called Makers, and still in others they have been called gods. You are the first in eons, and if the Void is not stopped, you will be the last."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"You must journey to the Heart of the Void, the center of everything. There you will face a battle unlike any you have encountered before, in which all of the multiverse will hang in the balance. Only you have the power to end the threat of the Void once and for all. But first you will have to defeat Shade."

"But didn't you already do that?" I asked. "He exploded."

"That was merely one of his many puppets," the Guardian answered. "There will be others. He is not allied with the Brotherhood, but he is a creation of the Void's corruptive power, much like the Darkness which you faced before. No matter how powerful Shade is, he will serve the Void whether he realizes it or not. Thus he will stand between you and the Heart of the Void, and you will have to defeat him in order to prevail."

"How?"

"I will teach you."


	8. Chapter 7: Training Sesson

Adventures of John: Into the Void

Chapter 7: Training Session

From then on I trained with the Guardian of Creation, learning how to better use my abilities. I had always been able to conjure things such as my armor and weapons, but they were simply magical constructs. They were temporary, lasting only as long as the magic that created them. In fact, they were very similar to the constructs created by heroes such as the Green Lantern. Creation was something else entirely.

When I access what the Guardian called "the Spark of Creation", I form things at the subatomic level, in seconds creating something from nothing. Unlike my constructs, when I create something, it is permanent unless I choose to destroy it. The Guardian warned me against excessive usage of my abilities, as well as eliminating everything I make immediately after creating it. There is a good reason why Makers are so rare. Nearly all universes have the same central rule: You cannot destroy or create matter, only change it. Makers break that rule, and thus if they use their powers too often it can cause some backlash from whichever universe they are in. Here in the Void I did not have to worry about that, but it was still good to know so I don't accidently destroy the universe when I got back.

"How will this help me kill Shade?" I asked as I formed a bluebird. I succeeded in making it, but it when I finished it was dead. I still hadn't gotten the hang of bringing my creations to life.

"Kill him?" the Guardian laughed. "That was never the intention."

"But you said I had to defeat Shade!" I protested.

"You do have to defeat him if you are to reach the Heart of the Void," the Guardian answered. "But you cannot kill him. He is a primordial force of the multiverse, one of the oldest beings in existence other than myself. He and his counterparts cannot be killed or destroyed. Even if he could be destroyed, it would damage the same balance of dark and light that the Void seeks to destroy. We would cause the destruction of the multiverse if we attempted such a thing, and the Void would have won. No, Shade cannot be destroyed."

"How am I going to defeat him then?" I questioned. "And even if I defeat him, how do I defeat the Void itself?"

"The Void has always been," he answered, "and always will be. You will not defeat the Void by strength of arms or the might of your magic. The same is true of Shade."

"Then how do I beat them?"

"When the time comes, you will know. Now again! And this time I don't want it alive, not dead!"

. . . . .

"Why are we just bloody sitting here!?" Jack exclaimed, sprawled out on the couch. "It's been days, and our new captain 'as been inside that diamond palace place without a word. For all we know, 'e could be dead by now!"

"Technically it hasn't been any time at all," Wiznet corrected wringing his hands anxiously. "No time in the Void, remember? Besides, you've seen some of the things John is capable of, you heard his stories. He can handle himself."

"I highly doubt that all of his stories are true," Jack responded. "That stuff about being both seventeen and thirty at the same time? Utter balderdash."

"Well, it is a well-documented fact in most universes that time in magical realms flows differently than in the mortal realm," Wiznet replied. "It is highly possible that one could have been born seventeen years ago but have over thirty years of experience under his belt."

"I still think we should go in after him, whatever the glowing guy says," Jack told him. "You have magic too. If he is in danger, we need to help."

"If he thought he was in any danger, John wouldn't have followed the being," Alara assured him. "But if it makes you feel better, we will go in after him. Just wait a bit longer. Have some faith."

"Fine then," he sighed. "I'll wait. Just not forever."

. . . . .

"What is this place even made of?" I asked as I failed to bring the bluebird to life for the thirtieth time. "It looks like diamond, but it doesn't feel like diamond. It's too soft, too warm."

"You only perceive it to be diamond," he answered. "The Throne of Creation is beyond what your human mind can conceive. Its true form is beyond your perception, so the closest possible thing is what you perceive. Thus you see a palace of diamond full of hovering globes. The same is true of me. My form is beyond your perception, so you see an armored warrior of light."

I created another bluebird in my hands, and this time it fluttered weakly. "I did it!" I exclaimed, showing the Guardian my handiwork.

"Good," he told me. "Now destroy the bird and do it again."

"What?!" I exclaimed, looking down at the innocent creature in my hands, struggling weakly to fly away. "It's a living thing! I can't just kill it for no reason!"

"It will not survive very long," he told me. "You did not make it strong enough. One thing I learned from watching the Creator's great work is that sometimes it is a greater mercy to end one's suffering than it is to let it live in pain. Ages ago, when wickedness had poisoned your world, instead of allowing it to continue and let his creations suffer, the Creator sent a mighty flood to wash the world clean, killing it so that it could be reborn anew. This bird is in pain. She is your creation, so you must end her life so that she can be reborn anew."

Holding back tears, I dissolved her atoms and she faded into nothingness. I focused again and using the same energy created another bluebird, this one flying out of my hands immediately, darting around my head. "Very good," he told me. "Now she is reborn, stronger and better than before." He paused as if listening to something. "Your friends seek to enter the Throne of Creation. They cannot be allowed to enter. Only those with the Spark of Creation can survive gazing upon its glory. Go now and halt their progress. I have taught you all I can for now. When you face Shade you will know what to do."

I left, opening the gates to find my crew slamming one of the cannons against it like a battering ram. "Guys, guys!" I exclaimed. "I'm okay! No need for violence here."

"We were, uh, rescuing you," Jack stammered.

"Not necessary," I told him. "I'm fine. Now come on. We have an immortal force of endless evil to fight."


	9. Chapter 8: The Fate of Shade

Adventures of John: Into the Void

Chapter 8: The Fate of Shade

"So what exactly are we getting ourselves into?" Jack asked as I steered the ship. "I'm all for danger and risk, but I do like to 'ave some assurance that we're gonna make it out alive. Who exactly is this 'Shade' person?"

"What, not who," I answered. "Shade is a primordial entity of evil. He is older than most universes and more powerful than anything I have ever faced before, expect possibly the Darkness, and I wasn't even the one that defeated the Darkness in the end. I just helped wake up the people who did. He is a being that gods fear and universes cower before, and I don't even know how I'm going to defeat him yet."

"Well that's comforting," Jack muttered. "Just make sure you don't take the rest of us with you when you die miserably."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I laughed. "Don't worry. You don't need to involve yourself if you don't want to. I can send you back to your own reality if you want. Though I have to warn you, things have changed a lot since the Elizabethan era."

"Not necessarily," Wiznet replied as he walked up the stairs to the deck. "Because of the time differences between the realities, Jack's universe could still be in the Elizabethan era while yours is in the Computer age."

"The Guardian talked to me about that during our training," I told him. "The universes weren't meant to be out of sync. It's only because of the Void's meddling that they are so out of balance. If we succeed, the universes will return to their natural time flows."

"From what you've told us, that would mean you wouldn't be able to spend several days at a time in Arendelle with your wife Elsa," Alara said from above. I looked up at her hanging onto the mast, shocked. I hadn't even realized she was there.

"That is true," I answered. "But it will also mean that I won't have to be apart from her for weeks at a time. I won't have to watch my friends grow old far too quickly or their children grow up too fast. Trust me, this is by far the better option. I'm more concerned about you, Alara. You don't have a universe to go back to. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet," she responded, glancing towards Jack. "Let's focus on saving the multiverse first."

. . . . .

"You do not belong here," a now-familiar dark voice declared.

"Why hello Shade," I replied, turning toward the figure who had spoken, and empty-eyed homeless man. "I'm sorry to say it, but you don't look very good as a homeless guy. The little girl was much creepier."

"It does not matter which of my puppets I use," Shade shot back. "You will not live another moment."

"Try me," I told him, smiling ruefully. The homeless man raised his hand, an immense amount of power gathering around him, the air crackling with it. But nothing happened. The power dissipated, leaving the homeless man standing there and me unscathed.

"Impossible!" he exclaimed. "You should have collapsed into a singularity!"

"I don't plan on becoming a black hole anytime soon," I told him. "I've learned a thing or two since we last spoke. The Guardian of Creation turned out to be a really good teacher. Thanks to him, I now know how to cancel out your reality-bending powers."

"That miserable fool hides in that palace of his all these eons, and **NOW** he interferes with my workings!?" Shade exclaimed. "When I have dealt with you, he will be the next to feel my wrath."

"You'll have to take me on first," I told him, "and I promise you that won't be easy."

"We will see," a deep noise began to emanate from the Void before us and the dead-eyed hobo smiled. I snapped my fingers and he exploded much like the little girl had. Turning around, I saw something stirring far before us. For a moment it looked like there was nothing there, but I soon realized my mistake. Many people believe darkness is simply the absence of light. As someone who has faced the living embodiment of Darkness in the past, I can assure you they are wrong. True darkness is a living thing, full of malice and fear. And the Void before us was suddenly filled with it, thousands of writhing shadows darting towards us.

"What in the blazes is that?!" Jack exclaimed.

"Those are Shade's minions," I answered. "It looks like you won't be returning to England quite yet. Ready cannons!" All along the deck, cannons loaded themselves with cannonballs glowing with creation energy, with the same thing happening on each of the decks below. "Fire!"

Energy ripped through the approaching horde as the cannons fired, destroying hundreds of them in an instant. But still thousands more came. The cannons continued to fire, but many of the shadow creatures made their way onto the ship. Jack pulled out his blade and set to work. Alara moved about with limitless grace, dodging every attack and striking with a pair of shimmering daggers she pulled out of the air. Wiznet blasted them with Void energy which consumed their essence and sucked them into what appeared to be a miniature black hole. It felt incredibly strange to have someone on my side using Void magic.

Meanwhile I focused on the ship, keeping it flying and firing. I brought up the main cannon, but even with its massive attack it wasn't long before the entirety of the _Great Adventure_ was covered in shadow creatures. They began to tear at the hull, ripping off small portions at a time. The ship healed itself, but not quickly enough to keep the more enterprising shadow creatures from darting inside through the small holes. I continued sailing, driving through the creatures to what I knew was beyond them. When I could feel that I had reached it I sent a massive surge of energy through the ship, dissolving every shadow creature in contact with it, as well as each one in contact with them, and those in contact with them, starting a chain reaction that destroyed nearly every single one of the creatures and revealing what was beyond them.

It was a massive blob of negative energy, not the nothingness of the Void nor the shadows of Darkness, but instead an energy that repelled me, forcing me to struggle to keep from being forced away, though it seemed to have the opposite effect on Alara. She seemed to be struggling not to be forced towards it. "You will fail," Shade's voice exclaimed from the blob. "This is your end."

Looking at it and Alara, I realized that I had been overlooking something immense. The Guardian had said that Shade was a creation of the Void's corruption. He hadn't said that he was created by the Void. How could nothingness create something? No, like the Darkness, Shade had been something else once and had been corrupted and changed by the Void's influence. And from the effect it had on Alara, I knew what.

"It is not my end, Shade!" I announced. "It is your end, or at least the end of you as you are now." I drew upon my energies, attempting to do something that I had never attempted before, something the Guardian had only told me about in passing. I focused my creation energy and altered it, the golden hue shifting to one of pure white. I centered my power and then sent it out explosively, a beam of pure power smashing through the negative energy.

"Fool!" Shade announced, absorbing the energy and growing even stronger. "I am endless! You cannot kill me!"

"Who ever said I was trying to kill you?" I said with a smile. For a moment the blob was silent, as if confused. It then emitted a high-pitched shriek as the white energy began to spread throughout its form, altering it irrevocably. It jerked and spasmed, negative energy shooting out in all directions. After a while the white energy faded, leaving the creature known as Shade permanently changed.

"What have you done to me?!" several different voices called out in unison. The outlines of multiple faces seemed to press themselves against the edges of the blob of energy. "What is happening?"

"Alara," I said, ignoring Shade's cries. "You told me that the New Gods sent the Old Ones into the Void to be consumed, did you not?"

"Yes…" she answered hesitantly. She didn't understand what I was insinuating yet, but I could tell she was about to.

"They weren't simply consumed by it," I stated. "I've been learning a lot more about the Void recently, and I've learned that it will never destroy something that it could use instead. The Old Ones weren't consumed, they were changed. Much like the celestial being that would become the Darkness, the Void took the Old Ones and consumed their essence, altering to better fit its aims."

Alara's face was filled with shock and horror. "So the creature Shade is…"

"Yes," I answered. "Shade is the combined essences of all the Old Ones, merged together to create a single omnipotent being of negative energy." By now all of the purifying energy had faded from Shade's form, and the different Old Ones within him seemed to be warring for dominance. Shade let loose an ear-splitting shriek and vanished, leaving us alone in the Void.


	10. Epilogue

Adventures of John: Into the Void

Epilogue

"So is that it then?" Jack asked. "No more Shade?"

"Not even close," I chuckled. "I freed him from the influence of the Void, allowing the separate entities within him to reawaken. Shade will be waging a war with himself for quite a while, but once one of the personalities gains dominance he will be back to his old ways. Remember, the Old Ones were evil long before the Void got a hold of them. In fact, without the Void manipulating him he could be even more deadly than ever."

"Well then, that's just great," Jack muttered.

"It will take a while for Shade to get back into fighting shape," I told him. "In the meantime, we still need to deal with the Void itself. He's out of the way for now. We will have to worry about him later. Now the real battle begins."

Suddenly an orb of light appeared above my ship, a voice calling out from it. "Well done, Adventurer," the orb announced. "But I have dire news. With the removal of Shade the Void has been forced to step up its time table."

"How can it have a time table if there is no time here?!" I questioned, exasperated.

"Time is of the essence," the orb declared, ignoring my question. "You must reach the Heart of the Void before all is lost." And with that it vanished.

I looked out into the Void and could feel it calling to me. The Void's plan was coming to a close and with it the end of everything. I was fighting against nothingness, against emptiness, against something that had existed before the universe, before even God. All of creation rested in my hands, and my destiny waited for me in the Heart of the Void.


	11. The Story is Not Over

The Story is Not Over…

…Not even close. If you enjoyed this story, why stop now? This is only one story in the _John the Adventurer_ series. Read all about my other adventures! Here are all of the stories in chronological order with the link to each of them. Enjoy!

**PART 1**

The Early Adventures

1. Journey to Neverland

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2. Welcome to Wonderland

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3. The Wonderful Conspiracy of Oz

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4. The Day I Met the Doctor

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The Frozen Trilogy

5. The Adventurer and the Snow Queen

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6. The Search for Arendelle

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7. The Return to Arendelle

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Conclusion

8. World War Magic

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**PART 2**

Valentines Day

9. My Frozen Valentine

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Danger of the Rifts

10. Parallels

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11. The Doctor, the Daleks, and the Dragon

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12. Winchesters

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13. Heroes

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The Void Trilogy

14. The Society

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15. Into the Void

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16. Heart of the Void

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Aftermath

17. A Frozen Child One Shot

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**PART 3**

A New Threat

18. Inner Demons

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19. The Masters of Chaos One Shot

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20. New World Order

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